BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music

The BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music were British awards sponsored by the station from 2003 to 2008, conceived by fRoots editor Ian Anderson on the model of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards; the critic Charlie Gillett chaired the panel until 2006. ^{1 2}

The categories were regional, Africa, Asia/Pacific, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East and North Africa, with others for newcomers, culture crossing, album of the year, the Critics Award and the Audience Award; several thousand industry experts nominated, a twelve-member jury chose the winners in every category but the Audience Award, and winners received a trophy called the "Planet". ¹ The BBC decided to axe the awards in March 2009, as The Guardian and The Sunday Times reported. ¹

Youssou N'Dour won the Critics Award in 2005, which the article on Egypt describes as album of the year for that album. ^{1 3} Middle East and North Africa winners included Kadim Al Sahir (2004), Khaled (2005) and Souad Massi (2006), and the 2006 Asia/Pacific award went to the Pakistani Sufi singer Sain Zahoor. ¹

• English Wikipedia, 'BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music', revision 1305415679 of 11 August 2025. ¹
• Wikidata item Q947795. ²
• English Wikipedia article on the album Egypt. ³